As we continue our entry into the Advent season it is a good time to
re-visit some issues of liturgical practice in the Tri-Parishes so that
understanding may be reinforced and tranquility reign in our hearts and
community. The particular issues I’d
like to address are the use of Latin, ad orientem worship, and kneeling
for the reception of Holy Communion. The
importance of these topics and the need to address them more thoroughly demands
that I use the space normally reserved for both of my columns in one this week.
First, it must be remembered that all of these are well entrenched
elements of worship in the Roman Rite.
While all three seemed, in the popular mind, to be “abolished by Vatican
II”, nothing could be further from the truth.
Regarding Latin in the liturgy, the Vatican II constitution on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium,
reminds us of the importance of Latin in the Roman Rite and the necessity of
its preservation in the liturgy.
Theologically our catholicity is expressed in the language of the
common parts of the Mass: the Kyrie, the Confiteor, the Creed,
the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei, as well as the Canon of
the Mass. In obedience to Vatican II we
have had the practice in these parishes for 30 years now of using the Latin
responses during Advent and Lent; and for the last eleven years we have also
used these on Fridays such that the children of Sacred Heart School and those
who attend daily Mass are then well cultivated in this aspect and practice of
our Catholic faith. In an era where
international travel is not a rare experience for us, many have related their
satisfaction that assisting at Mass in other parts of the world, they were able
to follow the Mass in these other countries because the common parts of the
Mass were known to them in Latin.
Ad Orientem worship as an issue has come to the fore over the
last several years, encouraged especially by Cardinal Robert Sarah (the
immediate past head of the Vatican Congregation for Sacred Worship). Interestingly, the current General
Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM), which is the instruction for
celebrating Mass, continues to ASSUME that the priest is celebrating the Mass
in this manner. There is a beautiful
truth communicated with Mass offered in this manner: the priest at the head of
the worshiping community, leading them in the worship of God and leading them
TO God. There is a greater sense of the
sacrificial nature of the Mass as well as a lessening of the focus on the
priest; both of which serve to set the focus on God and the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ over either the priest or the community which are not unimportant in the
context of community worship but are certainly secondary to the action of
Christ on the altar.
Finally, the practice of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue and
kneeling has made a come back over the last several years. It must be noted that the practice of
receiving in the hand while standing has become the norm, it is a practice
allowed by the Vatican in this country, and many others, only by an indult – in
other words, it was never intended to be normative, though it did become
“normal”. Over the 50 years since the
practice was first allowed however, many have come to feel a greater reverence
for what, for Whom, they are receiving when they are able to receive the
Blessed Sacrament in the ancient manner.
On the one hand, many feel an unworthiness to touch the Blessed
Sacrament with hands that are subject to the messiness of daily life and work;
others have developed a greater appreciation for the sanctification of the
priest’s hand which are consecrated with holy Chrism at the priest’s ordination
precisely in recognition of the sacred work that is to be undertaken and the
sacred species which these hands will touch.
Finally, there is the beautiful and ancient symbol that is reverently
embraced of the father feeding his children, the shepherd feeding his flock. It is for this reason that Communion rails /
stations have made a comeback in many churches, including in our own diocese;
and in those places where communion rails had been discarded, portable kneelers
or prie deuxs have appeared to facilitate this form of reception.
It should be noted that in all of these areas I have always been very careful not do
disallow (or denigrate!) what the Church clearly allows, even by indult. I have respected the feelings and
sensibilities of the diversity of people found in our parishes. Latin is not used in our liturgies
exclusively nor even primarily. It is
used seasonally and situationally in the spirit of the conciliar documents with a desire to bring us into
ever greater conformity with the desires of the council fathers.
In like manner, I never refuse Communion in the hand to those who desire
it – except in the case of those carrying infants and small children (prudence
dictates: two hands on the child and two hands on the Sacrament); nor do I
judge anyone based on how they receive our Lord in Holy Communion. While I have provided for those who desire to
receive Communion while kneeling I don’t force the issue nor do I judge anyone
on that basis.
And finally, ad orientem worship is
offered only in those situations where it has been well-responded to, or for
catechetical purposes (school Masses on Fridays), or in the case of St. Mary’s
on weekdays where I am just not willing to shift the altar around for one
weekday Mass and in a church that has only a small handful of people in it
(wouldn’t you rather look at that beautiful high altar than at a mostly
empty church?).
While the liturgy, especially holy Mass is supposed to be that around which we are unified, there continues to be a legitimate diversity that must be respected. If you have any questions about these issues, don't be afraid to ask!
